These Olympic Games will be completely different for Kingston rower Robert Gibson.

The Kingston Collegiate grad was an alternate on the Men’s Eight squad in Beijing in 2008. He was on standby as an injury replacement, but was never needed.

Four years later, he has arrived in England for the Summer Games as a full member of the team, ready to row his way to what he hopes will be a gold medal.

“I must say, it feels awesome to be part of this team,” the 26 year old said Thursday morning from the rowing venue at Eton Dorney, about a 90-minute drive outside of London. “We know we’ve got a really special group of guys. We know we’re capable of medaling and even winning this regatta.”

Gibson and his teammates – which includes his close friend and fellow KCVI alum Will Crothers – arrived in London earlier in the week. Rather than staying in the “satellite” Athletes Village for rowers, they checked into a nearby hotel. Since then, they’ve familiarized themselves with Eton Dorney and focused on last-minute preparations for the heats, which take place Saturday morning.

“Right now, all that matters is the day at hand and the few workouts we have left to get ready for our heat,” he said, adding that he’ll have a full family contingent on hand to cheer him on, including his parents, sisters, aunts and uncles. “We’re getting a little nervous, but that’s expected. We’ve trained the whole year for this. It’s pretty special. Will and I have been racing together now for eight or nine years, and we’ve been all over the world at some of the biggest events, but this is definitely the premier race, obviously. This is definitely the big show.”

Crothers, for his part, is about to enter what he describes as his own “little zone.”

With his first taste of Olympic competition so close at hand, he doesn’t want anything to distract him, so from now on there’s no more Facebook or email. Instead, he’ll just try to stay calm and relaxed, saving as much energy as he can for the race, and not allowing anything to bother him.

“The mentality I’ve had going into it is excitement really, because I’ve never been to an event of this magnitude before. So far it’s living up to the hype, definitely,” said the 25 year old, who rowed collegiately at the University of Washington, alongside Gibson. “You’ve got to be a weeping willow, pushing with the wind and bending a little bit here and there, so you don’t break, and that’s just the way it is because there’s always going to be something that happens – someone’s going to forget their accreditation, someone’s going to be late for something. You just got to kind of keep your cool and it will all play out well.”

When asked if he expects to leave London with a gold medal, the response was definitive.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “We’ve done all the work. Everything’s been prepared. Now we just have to go out there and perform.”

Crothers will be joined at the Games by his parents, his brother Daniel – who got him started in the sport – and a number of other relatives. They’ll be among the 30,000 spectators watching from the sold-out seats, not to mention thousands more who will be standing alongside the course.

“The stands are huge and they’ll be full. It’ll be really noisy. It’s going to be great.”

The top boats from Saturday’s heats advance straight through to the final, which is scheduled for Wednesday. There’s a second-chance repechage Sunday for all the boats that did not advance.